Musical instrument



Feb. 10, 1931. H. G, BEYER 1,791,999

MUSICAL INSTRUMENT Filed Sept. 27, 1929 3 Sheets-Sheet 1 Jfe GBeyer 29 M wwr Feb. 10, 1931. H. G. BEYER 1,791,999

' MUSICAL INSTRUMENT Filed Sept. 27, 1929 3 Sheets-Sheet 2 I v ,Zhueni'or: Lt Jfenbeni' GuBeyer,

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Feb. 10, 1931. BEYER 1,791,999

MUSICAL INSTRUMENT Filed Sept. 27. 1929 s Sheets-Sheet a In venfior.

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mama Y Ail?! by M ZE/JZQ/Q Patented Feb. 10, 1931 UNITED STATES HERBERT G. BEYEB, OF BALTIMORE, MARYLAND MUSICAL INSTRUMENT Application filed September 27, 1929. Serial 10. 395,549.

The invention relates to accordions and concerns an arrangement of reeds controlled by a note sheet operated by the user during the playing of the instrument so that the tones will be produced by the air passing through the note sheet to those reeds that are intended to be operated, the air being caused to pass into the note sheet chamber in the one case by pressure and in the other case by suc- Zs': tion induced by operating the bellows as in an accordion and from which chamber the air is passed through the openings in the note sheet to the appropriate reeds.

In the drawings Figure 1 is a horizontal section on line 11 of Fig. 2.

Fig. 2 is a vertical section on line 2-2 of Fig. 1.

Fig. 3 is a section substantially on the line 33 of Fig. 2.

Fig. 4 is a view of the inner face of one of the hinged sections ofv the note sheet chamber.

In these drawings 1 indicates a bellows of substantially ordinary form, having the usual manually operable valve 2 and the strap 3, for one hand, the strap 4 being for the other hand of the operator. This bellows is attached to the inner section 5 of a casing or chamber of which the other section is shown at 6. These sections are hinged together at 7. When in closed position relative to each other the sections are held by any suitable fastening devices such as the pivoted hooks 8 and pins 9, with which the hooks engage.

The sections when closed one upon the other provide an air tight chamber A (except for the ports hereinafter mentioned), because of the use of packing at 10 between the meeting walls of the sections. Each section of the chamber A is made up of side walls a, a and what may be termed for convenience bottom walls I), 7) each section being of tray like form. The walls a a are intermediate the height of the instrument and above them lie auxiliary chambers A lying between said intermediate walls and the upper outer walls a a The outer section 6 of the box or chamber A carries the note sheet 11 and the rolls 12 5 upon which the note sheet is mounted.

The rolls 12 find at the walls a, a, bearings consisting, for instance, of the spring pins 13, and openings 14 in the walls a through which the journals of the rolls pass into the @131 compartment A This upper compartment A contains the mechanism for rotating the note sheet rolls, and'this chain ber does not have to be sealed around its margin and hence'there is no packing employed such as that shown at 10 in the meeting walls of the sections forming the compartment A.

In this com artment A are contained tracker boards B forming a narrow passage 15 between them through which the note sheet moves on its way from one roll 12 to the other. The tracker boards are provided as usual with openings 16 throu h which the air passes when admitted by t e openings in the note sheet. The tracker board openings lead into the wind chests 17 containing the reeds, one set of which'18 are sounded when air is blown by means of the bellows, and the other set 19 are sounded when suction is created by the bellow. The wind chests are made up of the walls 20 and the tracker boards and openings 21, 21a in the walls of the sections of the main compartment or box permit the passage of the air through the Wind chests.

There are also openings 2222a through the walls b, b of the box or main chamber. These openings are controlled by valves 23-23a which permit the passage of air into the chamber A through said openings, but close them against the passage of air from said chamber A.

When air is blown by the bellows the note sheet is forced upon the tracker board B so that a sealing effect is produced by the note sheet firmly bearing upon said tracker board and the only passages open for the flow of air pressure from chamber A or from the narrow space 15 are the openings 16 in the tracker board B which are uncovered according to the prescribed relative disposition of the openings in the note sheet. In other words there can be no leakage of air to tracker board openings other than those called for by the disposition of the note sheet openings. In this way only the )rescribed reeds of the set 18 will sound.

11 like manner, when the instrument is op-- erating on the suction stroke of the bellows the note sheet will be drawn firmly against the other tracker board 13 so that all openings of the said tracker board are sealed by the note sheet'ex'cepting those selected by the openings in the note sheet. The openings 22 are provided so that a sufficient volume of air will pass into the chamberA on each stroke of the bellows. Reliance for this air supply is in part upon the openings 16 of the tracker boards. For instance vith the note sheet pressed upon the tracker board B, the instrument being on its pressure stroke, the air supply reaching the note sheet will be furnished in part by the openings 16 of the tracker board B and in part by the air passing through the opening 22a, past the valve 23a which opens inwardly under this air pressure.

. This air pressure finds its way to the narrow passage 15 and thence through the openings in the note sheet, now bearing firmly upon tracker board surfaces B and thence through the openings 16 in said tracker board and to the reeds 18 causing them to sound. The air will finally escape from the wind chest through opening 21 and thence through openings 24 to atmosphere from a supplemental or end compartment C.

On the suction stroke of .the bellows air will enter openings 24 and pass through compartment C, in partgoing through opening 21 and openings 16 in tracker board B to the passage 15 from whence it passes through the note sheet now firmly bearing on the other tracker board B The additional air supply will reach this passage 15 (to pass through the note sheet) through opening 22 and valve 23. The straps for engag' ing over the backs of the hands of the user are indicated at- 3 and 4.

For moving the note sheet while the instrument is being operated, a finger piece 26 projects through the end wall of the head of the instrument, and the operator by giving movement to this finger piece will operate the winding roll to cause the note sheet to move over the tracker board surface and present its openings to those of the tracker board for the selection of the prescribed reeds. This operating mechanism may assume various forms and that shown is to be regarded as an example of any form suitable for the purpose.

A reciprocating rack bar 27 is operated by v. the finger piece in one direction and a spring operates this rack in the other direction. The rack and all the train of mechanism for operating the note sheet rolls is mounted in the supplemental chamber A above the main sealed chamber A.

The rack operates a pinion 28, the shaft of which is mounted in a slot 29 of the frame work, the arrangement being such that when the rack is moved in the arrow direction in Fig. 3 by pressing on the finger piece, the said pinion 28 will be thrown into engagement with the gear wheel 30 to rotate the same, whereas on the return-stroke of the rack under action of the spring the pinion will be disengaged from the gear 30 because on this return stroke of the rack the shaft of the pinion is free to move along the slot 29 "to disengaged position. The gear 30 operates a train of gears of which that marked 31 is on the shaft of one of the rolls 12, and the one marked 32 is an intermediate or idler for transmitting movement to the genlr 3103 on the shaft of the other winding re- 12.

There are clutches 33 operable by a finger le er 34 pivoted at 34 whereby either the gear 31 or the gear 310: may be clutched to its corresponding winding roll shaft so that the note sheet may be wound upon either roll.

There is also provided a fly or momentum wheel 35 connected with the gear train and rotatable freely upon an extension of the shaftof one of the rolls 12.

This fly wheel is driven by a gear 36 loose on said shaft extension and a gear 37 on the shaft of the gear 30 so that each time the gear train is positively operated by pressing the finger niece to the left in Fig. 3 the train of gears will be operated, the momentum or fiy wheel will be set in rotation and then when the return stroke of the finger piece and rack takes place the momentum wheel will carry on and keep the note sheet moving at a uniform rate. The finger piece- 26 is within convenient reach of the operators thumb, though I do not limit myself'in this respect as the motor mechanism may be otherwise operated the important feature here being that the note sheet impelling mechanism be operable from a device, of

which the finger piece 26 is an example, located within convenient reach of the operators finger wnen he has his hand in position to work the apparatus like an accordion.

All the above described motor mechanism together with the note sheet rolls finds bearings in the section 6 of the main chamber or casing of the apparatus, so that when this casing is opened up the operating mechanism and the note sheet rolls are rendered accessible for manipulation of the note sheet. thus may be conveniently removed and replaced and the operating mechanism may be manipulated to rewind the note sheet upon that roll from which it is drawn off when the instrument is being played.

The means for operating the clutches or other means by which the drive. mechanism may be reversed may have. any suitable detent as at 34m by which it is held in either one of its two positions.

By arranging the note sheet rolls and operating mechanism on the end section 6 of the main chamber the replacement of the note sheet and the rewinding can be accomplished more conveniently than would be the case it these parts were mounted on the section which is intermediately positioned in respect to the bellows and the end section 6.

It will be noted in this connection that one tracker board B with its associated wind chests and reeds are located on one section 6 of the main chamber or box, and the other tracker board B with its wind chests and reeds are located on the other section so that when the end section 6 is swung aside the tracker board B is exposed and the note sneet is automatically moved to a point convenient for its manipulation or replacement.

The terminal section or chamber C is attached to and carried by the outer hinged section 6.

The openings 24 are formed through a panel carried by the walls of said chamber 6. The chamber C as shown in Fig. 2 pro vides part of the enclosed space in which the operating mechanism is located and this is true also of the section 5 of the main box or chamber, that is to say it provides a part of the chamber in which the operating mechanism is located.

I have referred to the sound producing means as reeds but it will be understood that this term is used for convenience and in cludes any sound producing means of equivalent characteristics such for instance as whistles, pipes, or the like.

I claim:

1. In combination an accordion having a main chamber or box composed of two sections hinged together, a bellows attached to one of saic sections, a tracker board in each section, sound producing means in each sectron note sh et rolls carried by one of said sections, and means for operating the rolls also carried by said section.

2. In combination in an accordion a box made up of two sections separably connected together, said box having a main compart ment and a supplemental compartment, a tracker board and a series of sound producers carried by each section, a bellows carried by one of he sections, note sheet rolls in the main compartment, operating means for said note sheet rolls carried in the supplemental. compartment, each section of the main chamber having an opening in its bottom communicating with the tracker board openings and with the sound producers interposed and each section also having an opening leading into the main chamber with a valve at each of sait openings to allow entrance of air, but to prevent its escape through its opening, the air entering said valves adding to that entersaid casing,

ing through the openings first mentioned to furnish a supply to pass through the note sheet and tracker board openings.

3. In combination in an accordion, a box made up of two sections separablefrom each other, one of said sections carrying a bellows each of said sections carrying a bellows, a tracker board and a series of sound producers and one of said sections carrying note sheet rolls with means for operating the same, each section having an opening therethrough in line with the sound producers and tracker board openings, and each section having an opening leading into the chamber containing the note sheet, with a valve at each of said openings to allow inlet of air and prevent outlet of air, substantially as described.

4. An accordion comprising a box in two separable sections, a bellows connected with one of said sections, said box comprising a main chamber air sealed between the walls of the sections, note sheet rolls and tracker board and reeds in said sealed chamber, said note sheet contacting with and controlling directly the passage of air through the openings in the tracker board, said box containing also a supplemental chamber divided from the main chamber and operating means for the note sheet in said supplemental chamber, substantially as described.

5. In combination a chamber composed of separable sections each of which has a tracker board and sound producers, note sheet rolls in one section, from one to the other of which the note sheet passes between the two tracker boards, a terminal section attached to one of the sections first mentioned and operating means for the note sheet housed by the several sections, substantially as described.

6. In combination in an accordion, a divided casing, a pair of note sheet rolls in means for operating the rolls, a note sheet extending from one roll to the other, a tracker board over which the note sheet passes, a sound producing element to which the note sheet supplies the currents of air, directly through said tracker board and a bellows for effecting passage of air through the instrument by blowing and drawing, substantially as described.

7. In combination in an accordion, a casing, a pair of tracker boards having a narrow passage between them for the movement of a note sheet, note sheet rolls and a note sheet passing from one roll to the other through said passage, two sets of sound producing means, one for each tracker board, and a bellows for drawing and blowing the air through the note sheet, tracker boards and sound producing means, substantially as described.

8. An accordion according to claim 7 in which a valve admits air into the casing on the blowing movement of the bellows but closes on the suction movement of said bellows and a, valve admits air to said casing on the suction movement of the bellows but closes under the blowing movement of the bellows, substantially as described.

In testimony whereof, I afiix my signature.

HERBERT G. BEYER. 

